Driver error accounts for more than 90% of all road traffic collisions. Most accidents are not caused by unsafe cars or dangerous roads but by drivers making mistakes. Identifying, managing and correcting unsafe driving behavior is crucial to reducing the costs and risks associated with accidents. Passenger transport organizations worldwide are acing similar challenges in managing the risk profile of their drivers. There are significant costs associated with accidents and incidents, including insurance, liability claims, vehicle and property damage, injuries and fatalities.
In our U.S. Pat. No. 6,470,240, we disclose a driver training system to improve the safety and competency of drivers. In that system, a portable sensing unit is temporarily mounted into a vehicle to measure and record driver behaviour during an on-road training session. Measurement and recording of the driver's behaviour however is simply by means of the sensing unit with no input from a third party such as a driver instructor or tester.
Currently, several in-vehicle technologies are available to intervene when hazardous driving is detected. Antilock Braking Systems (ABS), Electronic Stability Programs (ESP), Collision avoidance systems (CAS), Lane Departure Warning systems and Adaptive Cruise Control systems are all advanced ‘last-minute’ intervention technologies that have the ability to reduce the incidence of injury during the vital seconds before a crash. These technologies are predominantly found in passenger cars, as opposed to large commercial vehicles, such as buses. These intervention technologies do not allow the managers of professional transit drivers to intervene as the likelihood of crash or other incident increases nor do they provide information relating to correct operation of a motor vehicle. Larger vehicles such as buses may have “black box” technologies installed to record data however these provide date only after an event has occurred.
In order to ensure safety and service standards are maintained at all times, transport operators seek an effective approach to monitor and assess drivers during service hours as well as during training and licensing processes. These assessments may include assessments of driving skill, conduct or business to organizational standards, passenger interaction, driving to road rules and other driving aspects. Ensuring the safety of passengers and other road users is a primary objective for transport operators.
It would be desirable for an onboard instructor or tester to be able to collect information whilst observing a vehicle driver during operation of a vehicle and provide advanced input upon which a subsequent driver assessment report can be based so as to provide an enhanced training facility for vehicle drivers.
Inspection of other non-driving procedures or processes to ensure for example correct and efficient operation of those procedures or processes is usually undertaken manually by trained personnel using basic recording equipment which may be as simple as a form or pad upon which information is written. Similarly, manual inspections of factories, warehouses or other establishments are generally undertaken as part of an auditing program using basic recording equipment as above. It would be desirable to provide a means whereby information relating to such procedures, processes or establishments could be more efficiently recorded to provide an enhanced means for assessment of such procedures, processes or establishments or persons involved in such procedures, processes or establishments.
It would also desirable to be able to train vehicle operators as to particular geographical routes that the vehicle controlled by the operator is required to travel and to train the operator to recognize certain locations along that route. Potential training applications include bus driver routes and other application where training must be delivered related to an accurate geographical location or route such as homeland security applications, rail and light rail applications, dangerous goods transport applications, oil and gas transport applications, mining vehicle applications, airport flightside applications, marine and military applications.
It would also be desirable to enable information to be collected on operation of other machinery or equipment to enables assessment thereof to ensure machinery or other equipment is operated by operators in an efficient, correct or safe manner or to ensure trainee operators are trained correctly in the operation of such machinery and equipment.